Athens' Researchers' Night agenda includes experiments with explosive baking powder, rose petals that turn into breaking glass and magnetic fields able to lift a miniature 'bullet train' into the air and keep it in motion. In Volos, a team of mechanical engineers from the University of Thessaly will invite the public to sit in a race car they have just built.

2. Porto (Portugal)

Ready to make batteries powered by citrus fruit? Would you like your children to see what can be done with static electricity and straws? Do you want to learn how to build kites? The City Park of Paços de Ferreira will host a large number of workshops to which everyone is welcome. Would-be detectives can help researchers solve a 'murder' through hands-on experiments in the lab that will be key to shedding light on the perpetrator.

3. London (UK)

Would you like to join a live link-up with NASA scientists, try your hand at recreating cave art, or see Madagascan tenrecs, an endangered hedgehog-like mammal? The city’s iconic Natural History Museum will open its doors until midnight. The Museum’s collections will be also on show, including a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton which is on public display for the first time in Europe.

4. Krakow (Poland)

The public will be invited to break a sound record with the loudest collective scream. Advice on fire protection and tips for would-be car mechanics are on the agenda too. There will be also workshops for kids, who will be able to see a graphical representation of their voice and scan their faces.

Is Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey just science fiction? Or does it show, on the contrary, how scientific principles work in practice (e.g. there is no sound in the vacuum of space)? The Institute of Physics has organised a science fiction TV series seminar on the topic. A young local scientist from the Ruder Boskovic Institute will show a smoke launcher and how to fire giant shapes and vortex smoke rings.

7. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santander and Oviedo (Spain)

The Park of Santa Catalina in the Canary Islands will host workshops on solar energy and wind power. Meanwhile, in Santander, researchers and members of the public will discuss the scientific principles of surfing. It is all physics! Magnetism and energy is a theme for the night in Oviedo. Here the local events also offer an opportunity to discover how cell phones, computers and refrigerators work.

8. Perugia (Italy)

A group of sci-fi fans will catch a bus to Trasimeno Lake to conduct some unusual geological studies. The bus, guided by actors and researchers, will take the participants to a different time, thousands of years ago, and explore, on the basis of collected samples, how much the planet's climate has changed and is still to evolve. Those with a passion for art, games and robotics will have the opportunity to be photographed by a portrait-making Lego robot named 'Le(g)onardo'.

9. Düsseldorf (Germany)

In Dusseldorf, everybody is invited to burn off calories on a sustainable dance floor: the more enthusiastic the participants are, the more lighting and visual games the floor will generate. For a few seconds, they will also be able to become an opera singer. Visitors' lips and hands movements will be transferred to a virtual tenor on a big screen, setting the rhythm and volume of his performance. A modern 360° video projection will screen educational films on climate change. Acoustics and visuals promise to be spectacular! More than 80 activities are on the agenda.

10. Limassol (Cyprus)

The public will have a choice between 20 different activities in Limassol, ranging from molecular gastronomy, genetic analysis of chromosomes, to a presentation of ancient Greek musical instruments. Theatre will have a special place throughout the night: a physicist will present a stand-up comedy based on science facts and elementary school pupils will make a theatre performance. High school students will participate in a science communication competition S-Factor, while PhD students will make drawings of their PhDs and have them assessed by a jury.